Giving it Our Best on Sunday - Why Dressing Up for Mass Matters
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The opportunity that I had to serve in the military is definitely a source of pride and honor for me. It was one of the most challenging things I have done in my life and it would not have been possible if not for the role models I had as a young service member. In the day-to-day challenges brought on by military life, I often drew lessons from the lives of the saints to give me inspiration, encouragement, and even information for how to act. Many of these role models were from the distant past but the virtues that they practiced transcend time and they continue to be very applicable to our 21st century lives
One of the role models I looked up to was Saint Joan of Arc. She taught me three important virtues and attributes that served as a guide for my military service.
Grit, perseverance, determination. It was the 15th century and France was embroiled with England in what we now know in history as the Hundred Years’ War. As a young girl from a family of poor farmers from the countryside, Saint Joan of Arc was basically a nobody but she needed to get the messages and visions she was receiving from God to the French leaders. Nobody wanted to take her seriously but with her gritty persistence, she would figure out a way, despite many failed and humiliating attempts, to get an audience with church leaders, military leaders, and eventually, the king of France.
With grit and determination, she stood up to the challenges she encountered as a young peasant girl all the way through her military experience, and even unto death. She was young and inexperienced in battle but nothing stopped her from learning how to ride a horse, how to fight, and how to lead an army. She was persistent and gritty in her pursuit to master all these military skills. She became a great leader of the French army, and inarguably one of the greatest military leaders in the history of France, leading them from one victory to another.
Saint Joan of Arc was someone who maintained her integrity throughout her life. Late in her young life, after many war victories, she was captured and handed over to the inquisition for trial as a heretic, charged for things like witchcraft, dressing like a man, and for the divine revelations she was getting that was deemed by her accusers as heretic and superseding the authority of the Church. She was told by her accusers to recant in order to avoid punishment and the death sentence. But she had integrity. She remained steadfast and true to her beliefs and everything that she stood for even if it meant her death and getting burnt at the stake. She sacrificed her life not only for the sake of her country but also for her faith.
Saint Joan of Arc prayed incessantly as a young child, listening to God’s messages, and also as a warrior. During one of the many battles she was involved in, when she got seriously wounded, shot in the chest with an arrow, she retreated to hide away but only for a short while, just enough time to pull out the arrow from her chest herself and to recharge in prayer. She made sure to pray and consult with God, to pray for more strength and more courage so that she can continue to lead her army. After that brief break, she immediately rejoined the troops that she led to keep up their morale and courage, as well as to uphold their integrity and to persevere in their quest.
As a veteran, I am thankful to Saint Joan of Arc for these examples. She demonstrated these virtues by living them out all the way to the end. I am also thankful to my fellow veterans, those who have served, who have sacrificed, and who are willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
